Upgrading/building gaming PC

[rimi]

Approximate Purchase Date: In April, latest May

Budget Range: Up to 550$ max, but least possible

System Usage: Gaming BF3, Office, Autocad, Youtube

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor, Speakers, OS, Case, Hard Drives, Optical drives. If possible, I might also use my old Corsair HX 620W modular PSU

Preferred Websites for Parts: ncix.ca, newegg.ca Country: Canada

Parts Preferences: No preference. Whatever offers the best performance for my money.

Overclocking: I will try to overclock this in the future.

SLI or Crossfire: Not needed. Will just switch Graphics card when needed, instead of adding another one.

Monitor Resolution: 1080p

Additional Comments: I currently have a e6750, 8800GTS 640mb, 4x1GB Corsair RAM. I want to use certain old parts but build a new core PC so I can play BF3 on pretty much HIGH.
One think I want to understand is, is it better to get a better GFX card and cheap CPU, or, get both medium level CPU and GFX card.
Also, I hope my old 620W will cut it.
And also, I completely get lost when looking at mobos. I don't know what are some things that I should be looking for, like chipsets...

Thanks a lot guys.

 

[azeem40]

For OCing, get the i72600k because you will run AutoCAD.

 

[phamhlam]

AsRock Gen3 Extream 3- $130
i5-2500k -$ 220
MSI 560Ti- $190 after rebate

With your budget, it would be best to not get a i7-2700k.
This setup will allow you to play BF3 really well. I think you might also want to spend some money on new RAM if your old RAM isn't compatiable.

 

[rimi]

Thanks for the answers. Got a couple of questions.

1)When looking for mobo, the important thing to check is the chipset, correct? In this case it's the Z68. Are there any other I should be considering?

2)Also, the 560 Ti is provided by many different companies, how do i know which one is better?

3)And also, I was looking at other people's builds for BF3, and some were getting I3, would it be wise to get that and save 100$. And will the mobo support any future CPUs from Intel so I can maybe upgrade that later?

Thanks again.

 

[phamhlam]

When looking at mobo, chipset is the second most important after socket size. Your CPU must fit of course. A z68 motherboard is the best currently. Also look at SATA ports for SATA 3 and look at the quality of it.

There are many good companies that make 560Ti. You should go with either EVGA(I think this is the best for Nvidia), MSI (great cooler), ASUS (great cooer also), or Gigabyte.

Battlefield 3 is a demanding CPU game. I is recommended to have a 4 core 4 thread CPU and not a 2 core 4 thread CPU. i3 will get you by but a i5 will last you a bit longer.